Gesundheitsförderung KONKRET, Volume 8: The treatment of overweight and obese children and young people in Germany

The number of overweight and obese children and young people, which has been rising for years, means that there is a need for nationwide provision with treatment initiatives, tailored to individual requirements. Consequently, there are already numerous inpatient, outpatient or day carecombined forms of initiatives on offer in the Federal Republic of Germany.The structure of provision in Germany is heterogeneous.

However, little is known about current provision as a whole. Above all, it is not clear how dense provision as a whole is, which programmes are distributed in which way and how many people they reach, which opportunities for provision exist with the different forms of treatment (outpatient, inpatient) and to what extent fundamental evidence-based quality criteria are met, in order to create the preconditions for effective provision.

In order to answer these questions in a qualified way and on the basis ofscientifically secured findings, the BZgA commissioned University MedicalCentre Hamburg-Eppendorf to carry out a national study of provision, in order to determine the current status of provision. The findings compiled in this specialist booklet will make a contribution towards ensuring that the children and young people affected and their parents can orientate themselves more easily, as can the specialists providing treatment and advice. In conjunction with increased opportunities for orientation, these findings create the basis for an active debate on quality.